Systems and methods for referral benefits

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and articles of manufacture provide for games that may be adjusted to provide bonuses to players playing together, such as when one player has referred the other to the system. Game win amounts may be adjusted to account for bonuses that may be provided to Refer-A-Friend (RAF) players.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit and priority to, and is a continuationof, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/802,673 filed on Mar. 13, 2013and titled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REFERRAL BENEFITS”, which will issueas U.S. Pat. No. 8,858,322 on Oct. 14, 2014, and which itself claimspriority to and is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 61/642,269 filed on May 3, 2012 and titled “SYSTEMS ANDMETHODS FOR GROUP REFER-A-FRIEND (RAF)”, the entirety of each suchapplication of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by any-one of the patentdocument or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent andTrademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves allcopyright rights whatsoever

BACKGROUND

Referral rewards, as marketing and/or consumer loyalty tools, haveconsistently been provided in a limited variety of implementations. Thisis partly due to the fact that the typical implementations of referralprograms are relatively easy and/or inexpensive to implement andgenerally serve their purpose satisfactorily. As consumers continue toexpand their online, social media, and/or online gaming activities,however, traditional referral programs fail to provide desirablebenefits and/or fail to achieve modern goals.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

An understanding of embodiments described herein and many of theattendant advantages thereof may be readily obtained by reference to thefollowing detailed description when considered with the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a system according to some embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a method according to some embodiments;

FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and FIG. 9E are example interfacesaccording to some embodiments;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an apparatus according to someembodiments; and

FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, and FIG. 11D are perspective diagrams ofexemplary data storage devices according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments presented herein are descriptive of systems, apparatus,methods, and articles of manufacture for games that may be adjusted toprovide bonuses to players playing together, such as when one player hasreferred the other to the system. Game win amounts may be adjusted toaccount for bonuses that may be provided to Refer-A-Friend (RAF)players.

As utilized herein, the term “player” may generally refer to any type,quantity, and or manner of entity associated with the play of a game. Insome embodiments, a player may comprise an entity conducting play of anonline game, for example, may comprise an entity that desires to play agame (e.g., an entity registered and/or scheduled to play and/or anentity having expressed interest in the play of the game—e.g., aspectator) and/or may comprise an entity that configures, manages,and/or conducts a game. A player may be currently playing a game or havepreviously played the game, or may not yet have initiated play—i.e., a“player” may comprise a “potential player” (e.g., in general and/or withrespect to a specific game). In some embodiments, a player may comprisea user of an interface (e.g., whether or not such a player participatesin a game or seeks to participate in the game). In some embodiments, aplayer may comprise an individual (or group) that enters, joins, logsinto, registers for, and/or otherwise access an online game room,session, server, and/or other particular instance and/or segmentation ofan online game.

Some embodiments described herein are associated with a “player device”or a “network device”. As used herein, a “player device” is a subset ofa “network device”. The “network device”, for example, may generallyrefer to any device that can communicate via a network, while the“player device” may comprise a network device that is owned and/oroperated by or otherwise associated with a player. Examples of playerand/or network devices may include, but are not limited to: a PersonalComputer (PC), a computer workstation, a computer server, a printer, ascanner, a facsimile machine, a copier, a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a storage device (e.g., a disk drive), a hub, a router, a switch,and a modem, a video game console, or a wireless or cellular telephone.Player and/or network devices may, in some embodiments, comprise one ormore network components.

As used herein, the term “network component” may refer to a player ornetwork device, or a component, piece, portion, or combination of playeror network devices. Examples of network components may include a StaticRandom Access Memory (SRAM) device or module, a network processor, and anetwork communication path, connection, port, or cable.

In addition, some embodiments are associated with a “network” or a“communication network.” As used herein, the terms “network” and“communication network” may be used interchangeably and may refer to anyobject, entity, component, device, and/or any combination thereof thatpermits, facilitates, and/or otherwise contributes to or is associatedwith the transmission of messages, packets, signals, and/or other formsof information between and/or within one or more network devices.Networks may be or include a plurality of interconnected networkdevices. In some embodiments, networks may be hard-wired, wireless,virtual, neural, and/or any other configuration or type that is orbecomes known. Communication networks may include, for example, devicesthat communicate directly or indirectly, via a wired or wireless mediumsuch as the Internet, intranet, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide AreaNetwork (WAN), a cellular telephone network, a Bluetooth® network, aNear-Field Communication (NFC) network, a Radio Frequency (RF) network,a Virtual Private Network (VPN), Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), Token Ring,or via any appropriate communications means or combination ofcommunications means. Exemplary protocols include but are not limitedto: Bluetooth™, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM),Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), General Packet RadioService (GPRS), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Advanced Mobile Phone System(AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), IEEE 802.11 (WI-FI), IEEE 802.3, SAP, thebest of breed (BOB), and/or system to system (S2S).

As used herein, the terms “information” and “data” may be usedinterchangeably and may refer to any data, text, voice, video, image,message, bit, packet, pulse, tone, waveform, and/or other type orconfiguration of signal and/or information. Information may compriseinformation packets transmitted, for example, in accordance with theInternet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) standard. Information may, accordingto some embodiments, be compressed, encoded, encrypted, and/or otherwisepackaged or manipulated in accordance with any method that is or becomesknown or practicable.

Turning first to FIG. 1, a block diagram of a system 100 according tosome embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 100 maycomprise a gaming platform such as a gaming platform via which one ormore multiplayer and/or online games may be played. In some embodiments,the system 100 may comprise a plurality of player devices 102 a-n incommunication with and/or via a network 104. In some embodiments, a gameserver 110 may be in communication with the network 104 and/or one ormore of the player devices 102 a-n. In some embodiments, the game server110 (and/or the player devices 102 a-n) may be in communication with adatabase 140. The database 140 may store, for example, game date (e.g.,processed and/or defined by the game server 110), data associated withplayers (not explicitly shown) owning and/or operating the playerdevices 102 a-n, and/or instructions that cause various devices (e.g.,the game server 110 and/or the player devices 102 a-n) to operate inaccordance with embodiments described herein.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 102 a-n,104, 110, 140 of the system 100 may be similar in configuration and/orfunctionality to any similarly named and/or numbered componentsdescribed herein. Fewer or more components 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140(and/or portions thereof) and/or various configurations of thecomponents 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140 may be included in the system 100without deviating from the scope of embodiments described herein. Whilemultiple instances of some components 102 a-n are depicted and whilesingle instances of other components 104, 110, 140 are depicted, forexample, any component 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140 depicted in the system 100may comprise a single device, a combination of devices and/or components102 a-n, 104, 110, 140, and/or a plurality of devices, as is or becomesdesirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments, one ormore of the various components 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140 may not be neededand/or desired in the system 100.

The player devices 102 a-n, in some embodiments, may comprise any typeor configuration of electronic, mobile electronic, and or other networkand/or communication devices (or combinations thereof) that are orbecome known or practicable. A first player device 102 a may, forexample, comprise one or more PC devices, computer workstations (e.g.,game consoles and/or gaming computers), tablet computers, such as aniPad® manufactured by Apple®, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and/or cellularand/or wireless telephones such as an iPhone® (also manufactured byApple®, Inc.) or an Optimus™ S smart phone manufactured by LG®Electronics, Inc. of San Diego, Calif., and running the Android®operating system from Google®, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. In someembodiments, one or more of the player devices 102 a-n may bespecifically utilized and/or configured (e.g., via specially-programmedand/or stored instructions such as may define or comprise a softwareapplication) to communicate with the game server 110 (e.g., via thenetwork 104).

The network 104 may, according to some embodiments, comprise a LAN, WAN,cellular telephone network, Bluetooth® network, NFC network, and/or RFnetwork with communication links between the player devices 102 a-n, thegame server 110, and/or the database 140. In some embodiments, thenetwork 104 may comprise direct communications links between any or allof the components 102 a-n, 110, 140 of the system 100. The game server110 may, for example, be directly interfaced or connected to thedatabase 140 via one or more wires, cables, wireless links, and/or othernetwork components, such network components (e.g., communication links)comprising portions of the network 104. In some embodiments, the network104 may comprise one or many other links or network components otherthan those depicted in FIG. 1. A second player device 102 b may, forexample, be connected to the game server 110 via various cell towers,routers, repeaters, ports, switches, and/or other network componentsthat comprise the Internet and/or a cellular telephone (and/or PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN)) network, and which comprise portionsof the network 104.

While the network 104 is depicted in FIG. 1 as a single object, thenetwork 104 may comprise any number, type, and/or configuration ofnetworks that is or becomes known or practicable. According to someembodiments, the network 104 may comprise a conglomeration of differentsub-networks and/or network components interconnected, directly orindirectly, by the components 102 a-n, 110, 140 of the system 100. Thenetwork 104 may comprise one or more cellular telephone networks withcommunication links between the player devices 102 a-n and the gameserver 110, for example, and/or may comprise the Internet, withcommunication links between the player devices 102 a-n and the database140, for example.

According to some embodiments, the game server 110 may comprise a device(and/or system) owned and/or operated by or on behalf of or for thebenefit of a gaming entity (not explicitly shown). The gaming entity mayutilize player and/or game information or instructions (e.g., stored bythe database 140), in some embodiments, to host, manage, analyze,design, define, price, conduct, and/or otherwise provide (or cause to beprovided) one or more games such as online multiplayer games. In someembodiments, the gaming entity (and/or a third-party; not explicitlyshown) may provide an interface (not shown in FIG. 1; such as theinterfaces 920 a-e of FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and/or FIG. 9Eherein) to and/or via the player devices 102 a-n. The interface may beconfigured, according to some embodiments, to allow and/or facilitateelectronic game play by one or more players. In some embodiments, thesystem 100 (and/or interface provided by the game server 110) maypresent game data (e.g., from the database 140) in such a manner thatallows players to participate in one or more online games (singularly,in/with groups, and/or otherwise). According to some embodiments, thegame server 110 may provide benefits to players based on playerreferrals and/or based on groups of players that play together in anonline multiplayer game.

In some embodiments, the database 140 may comprise any type,configuration, and/or quantity of data storage devices that are orbecome known or practicable. The database 140 may, for example, comprisean array of optical and/or solid-state hard drives configured to storeplayer and/or game data, and/or various operating instructions, drivers,etc. While the database 140 is depicted as a stand-alone component ofthe system 100 in FIG. 1, the database 140 may comprise multiplecomponents. In some embodiments, a multi-component database 140 may bedistributed across various devices and/or may comprise remotelydispersed components. Any or all of the player devices 102 a-n maycomprise the database 140 or a portion thereof, for example, and/or thegame server 110 may comprise the database 140 or a portion thereof.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a system 200 according tosome embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 200 maycomprise a gaming platform such as a platform via which social,multiplayer, and/or online games may be played. In some embodiments, thesystem 200 may comprise a plurality of player devices 202 a-n, theInternet 204, a load balancer 206, and/or a game server cluster 210. Thegame server cluster 210 may, in some embodiments, comprise a pluralityof game servers 210 a-n. In some embodiments, the system 200 maycomprise a cache persistor 220, a Simple Queuing Service (SQS) device222, a task scheduler 224, an e-mail service device 226, and/or a queryservice device 228. As depicted in FIG. 2, any or all of the variouscomponents 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228 may be incommunication with and/or coupled to one or more databases 240 a-f. Thesystem 200 may comprise, for example, a dynamic DataBase (DB) 240 a, acloud-based cache cluster 240 b (e.g., comprising a game state cache 240b-1, a slot state cache 240 b-2, and/or a “hydra” cache 240 b-3), anon-relational DB 240 c, a remote DB service 240 d, a persistence DB 240e, and/or a reporting DB 240 f.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 202 a-n,204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f of the system 200may be similar in configuration and/or functionality to any similarlynamed and/or numbered components described herein. Fewer or morecomponents 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f(and/or portions thereof) and/or various configurations of thecomponents 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-fmay be included in the system 200 without deviating from the scope ofembodiments described herein. While multiple instances of somecomponents 202 a-n, 210 a-n, 240 a-f are depicted and while singleinstances of other components 204, 206, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228 aredepicted, for example, any component 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220,222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f depicted in the system 200 may comprise asingle device, a combination of devices and/or components 202 a-n, 204,206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f, and/or a plurality ofdevices, as is or becomes desirable and/or practicable. Similarly, insome embodiments, one or more of the various components 202 a-n, 204,206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f may not be needed and/ordesired in the system 200.

According to some embodiments, the player devices 202 a-n may beutilized to access (e.g., via the Internet 204 and/or one or more othernetworks not explicitly shown) content provided by the game servercluster 210. The game server cluster 210 may, for example, provide,manage, host, and/or conduct various online and/or otherwise electronicgames such as online bingo, slots, poker, and/or other games of chance,skill, and/or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the variousgame servers 210 a-n (virtual and/or physical) of the game servercluster 210 may be configured to provide, manage, host, and/or conductindividual instances and/or sessions of available game types. A firstgame server 210 a, for example, may host a first particular session ofan online bingo game (or tournament), a second game server 210 c mayhost a second particular session of an online bingo game (ortournament), a third game server 210 c may facilitate an online pokertournament (e.g., and a corresponding plurality of game sessions thatcomprise the tournament), and/or a fourth game server 210 d may providean online slots game (e.g., by hosting one or more slot game sessions).

In some embodiments, the player devices 202 a-n may comprise variouscomponents (hardware, firmware, and/or software; not explicitly shown)that facilitate game play and/or interaction with the game servercluster 210. The player device 202 a-n may, for example, comprise agaming client such as a software application programmed in Adobe® Flash®and/or HTML 5 that is configured to send requests to, and receiveresponses from, one or more of the game servers 210 a-n of the gameserver cluster 210. In some embodiments, such an application operatingon and/or via the player devices 202 a-n may be configured inModel-View-Controller (MVC) architecture with a communication managerlayer responsible for managing the requests to/responses from the gameserver cluster 210. In some embodiments, one or more of the game servers210 a-n may also or alternatively be configured in a MVC architecturewith a communication manager and/or communications management layer (notexplicitly shown in FIG. 2). In some embodiments, communications betweenthe player devices 202 a-n and the game server cluster 210 may beconducted in accordance with the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)version 1.1 (HTTP/1.1) as published by the Internet EngineeringTaskforce (IET) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in RFC 2616(June 1999).

According to some embodiments, communications between the player devices202 a-n and the game server cluster 210 may be managed and/orfacilitated by the load balancer 206. The load balancer 206 may, forexample, route communications from player devices 202 a-n to one or moreof the specific game servers 210 a-n depending upon various attributesand/or variables such as bandwidth availability (e.g., trafficmanagement/volumetric load balancing), server load (e.g., processingload balancing), server functionality (e.g., contextualawareness/availability), and/or player-server history (e.g., sessionawareness/“stickiness”). In some embodiments, the load balancer 206 maycomprise one or more devices and/or services provided by a third-party(not separately shown in FIG. 2). The load balancer 206 may, forexample, comprise an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) service provided byAmazon® Web Services, LLC of Seattle, Wash. According to someembodiments, such as in the case that the load balancer 206 comprisesthe ELB or a similar service, the load balancer 206 may manage, set,determine, define, and/or otherwise influence the number of game servers210 a-n within the game server cluster 210. In the case that trafficand/or requests from the player devices 202 a-n only require the firstand second game servers 210 a-b, for example, all other game servers 210c-n may be taken off-line, may not be initiated and/or called, and/ormay otherwise not be required and/or utilized in the system 200. Asdemand increases (and/or if performance, security, and/or other issuescause one or more of the first and second game servers 210 a-b toexperience detrimental issues), the load balancer 206 may call and/orbring online one or more of the other game servers 210 c-n depicted inFIG. 2. In the case that each game server 210 a-n comprises an instanceof an Amazon® Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service, the load balancer 206may add or remove instances as is or becomes practicable and/ordesirable.

In some embodiments, the load balancer 206 and/or the Internet 204 maycomprise one or more proxy servers and/or devices (not shown in FIG. 2)via which communications between the player devices 202 a-n and the gameserver cluster 210 are conducted and/or routed. Such proxy serversand/or devices may comprise one or more regional game hosting centers,for example, which may be geographically dispersed and addressable byplayer devices 202 a-n in a given geographic proximity. In someembodiments, the proxy servers and/or devices may be located in one ormore geographic areas and/or jurisdictions while the game server cluster210 (and/or certain game servers 210 a-n and/or groups of game servers210 a-n thereof) is located in a separate and/or remote geographic areaand/or jurisdiction.

According to some embodiments, for specific game types such as bingo,the game server cluster 210 may provide game results (such as a full setof drawn bingo numbers and/or bonus metrics) to a controller device (notseparately shown in FIG. 2) that times the release of game resultinformation to the player devices 202 a-n such as by utilizing abroadcaster device (also not separately shown in FIG. 2) that transmitsthe time-released game results to the player devices 202 a-n (e.g., inaccordance with the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and InternetProtocol (IP) suite of communications protocols (TCP/IP), version 4, asdefined by “Transmission Control Protocol” RFC 793 and/or “InternetProtocol” RFC 791, Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA),published by the Information Sciences Institute, University of SouthernCalifornia, J. Postel, ed. (September 1981)).

In some embodiments, the game server cluster 210 (and/or one or more ofthe game servers 210 a-n thereof) may be in communication with thedynamic DB 240 a. According to some embodiments, the dynamic DB 240 amay comprise a dynamically-scalable database service such as theDyanmoDB™ service provided by Amazon® Web Services, LLC. The dynamic DB240 a may, for example, store information specific to one or morecertain game types (e.g., slots) provided by the game server cluster 210such as to allow, permit, and/or facilitate reporting and/or analysis ofsuch information.

According to some embodiments, the game server cluster 210 (and/or oneor more of the game servers 210 a-n thereof) may be in communicationwith the cloud-based cache cluster 240 b. Game state information fromthe game server cluster 210 may be stored in the game state cache 240b-1, for example, slot state (e.g., slot-game specific state) data maybe stored in the slot state cache 240 b-2, and/or other game and/orplayer information (e.g., progressive data, referral data, playerrankings, audit data) may be stored in the hydra cache 240 b-3. In someembodiments, the cache persistor 220 may move and/or copy data stored inthe cloud-based cache cluster 240 b to the non-relational DB 240 c. Thenon-relational DB 240 c may, for example, comprise a SimpleDB™ serviceprovided by Amazon® Wed Services, LLC. According to some embodiments,the game server cluster 210 may generally access the cloud-based cachecluster 240 b as-needed to store and/or retrieve game-relatedinformation. The data stored in the cloud-based cache cluster 240 b maygenerally comprise a subset of the newest or freshest data, while thecache persistior 220 may archive and/or store or move such data to thenon-relational DB 240 c as it ages and/or becomes less relevant (e.g.,once a player logs-off, once a game session and/or tournament ends). Thegame server cluster 210 may, in accordance with some embodiments, haveaccess to the non-relational DB 240 c as-needed and/or desired. The gameservers 210 a-n may, for example, be initialized with data from thenon-relational DB 240 c and/or may store and/or retrieve low frequencyand/or low priority data via the non-relational DB 240 c.

In some embodiments, the SQS device 222 may queue and/or otherwisemanage requests, messages, events, and/or other tasks or calls to and/orfrom the server cluster 210. The SQS device 222 may, for example,prioritize and/or route requests between the game server cluster 210 andthe task scheduler 224. In some embodiments, the SQS device 222 mayprovide mini-game and/or tournament information to the server cluster210. According to some embodiments, the task scheduler 224 may initiatecommunications with the SQS device 222, the e-mail service provider 226(e.g., providing e-mail lists), the remote DB service 240 d (e.g.,providing inserts and/or updates), and/or the persistence DB 240 e(e.g., providing and/or updating game, player, and/or other reportingdata), e.g., in accordance with one or more schedules.

According to some embodiments, the persistence DB 240 e may comprise adata store of live environment game and/or player data. The game servercluster 210 and/or the task scheduler 224 or SQS device 222 may, forexample, store game and/or player data to the persistence DB 240 eand/or may pull and/or retrieve data from the persistence DB 240 e,as-needed and/or desired. The server cluster 210 may, according to someembodiments, provide and/or retrieve spin and/or other game event infoand/or configuration information via the persistence DB 240 e.

In some embodiments, the reporting DB 240 f may be created and/orpopulated based on the persistence DB 240 e. On a scheduled and/or otherbasis, for example, a data transformation and/or mapping program may beutilized to pull data from the live environment (e.g., the persistenceDB 240 e) into the reporting DB 240 f. The query service 228 may then beutilized, for example, to query the reporting DB 240 f, without taxingthe live environment and/or production system directly accessible by thegame server cluster 210.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a system 300 according to someembodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 300 may compriseand/or define a “front-end” architecture of a gaming platform such as aplatform via which social, multiplayer, and/or online games may beplayed. In some embodiments, the system 300 may comprise a plurality ofuser devices 302 a-b, a plurality of networks 304 a-b (e.g., a primaryservice provider network 304 a, a secondary service provider network 304b, a production network 304 c, and/or a VPN 304 d), a plurality ofrouters 306 a-b, a plurality of firewall devices 308 a-b, a plurality ofgame servers 310 a-g (e.g., web servers 310 a, application servers 310b, messaging broker servers 310 c, game broadcaster servers 310 d, chatservers 310 e, database servers 310 f, and/or management and monitoringservers 310 g), and/or an application delivery controller cluster 322.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 302 a-b, 304a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310 a-g, 322 of the system 300 may be similar inconfiguration and/or functionality to any similarly named and/ornumbered components described herein. Fewer or more components 302 a-b,304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310 a-g, 322 (and/or portions thereof) and/orvarious configurations of the components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308a-b, 310 a-g, 322 may be included in the system 300 without deviatingfrom the scope of embodiments described herein. While multiple instancesof some components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310 a-g aredepicted and while single instances of other components 322 aredepicted, for example, any component 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b,310 a-g, 322 depicted in the system 300 may comprise a single device, acombination of devices and/or components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308a-b, 310 a-g, 322, and/or a plurality of devices, as is or becomesdesirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments, one ormore of the various components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310a-g, 322 may not be needed and/or desired in the system 300.

In some embodiments, a first user device 304 a may comprise anelectronic device owned and/or operated by a player of an online game(not explicitly shown) and/or by an entity that otherwise accessesonline game content and/or services externally (e.g., requiring externallogin and/or access credentials and/or procedures). The first userdevice 304 a may, for example, be utilized to access content provided byand/or via the application delivery controller cluster 322. In someembodiments, the first user device 304 a may interface with and/orconnect to the production network 304 c via the primary service providernetwork 304 a and/or the secondary service provider network 304 b. Theprimary service provider network 304 a and the secondary serviceprovider network 304 b may, for example, load balance and/or provideredundant coverage for outage recovery by utilization of a first primaryservice provider network router 306 a-1, a second primary serviceprovider network router 306 a-2, a first secondary service providernetwork router 306 b-1, and/or a second secondary service providernetwork router 306 b-2.

According to some embodiments, the application delivery controllercluster 322 may be insulated and/or protected from the productionnetwork 304 c by an external firewall cluster 308 a. The first userdevice 304 a may, for example, be required to provide credentials toand/or otherwise access the application delivery controller cluster 322via the external firewall cluster 308 a.

In some embodiments, the application delivery controller cluster 322 mayreceive via and/or from the external firewall cluster 308 a and/or theproduction network 304 c, one or more requests, calls, transmissions,and/or commands from the first user device 304 a. The first user device304 a may, for example, submit a call for an online gaming interface(such as the interfaces 920 a-e of FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D,and/or FIG. 9E herein) to the application delivery controller cluster322. In some embodiments, the application delivery controller cluster322 may comprise one or more hardware, software, and/or firmware devicesand/or modules configured (e.g., specially-programmed) to route eventsand/or responses between the first user device 304 a and one or more ofthe servers 310 a-g. In the case that the first user device 304 a isutilized to access an online gaming interface for example, one or moreof the web servers 310 a (e.g., that may provide graphical and/orrendering elements for an interface and/or other web services) and/orthe application servers 310 b (e.g., that may provide rule and/orlogic-based programming routines, elements, and/or functions—e.g., gameplay engines) may be called and/or managed by the application deliverycontroller cluster 322.

In some embodiments, the messaging broker servers 310 c may receiveand/or retrieve messages from the first user device 304 a (and/or fromone or more of the other servers 310 a-b, 310 d-g) and perform one ormore inter-application processes in relation thereto. The messagingbroker servers 310 c may, for example, route, transform, consolidate,aggregate, store, augment, and/or otherwise process one or more requestsin connection with provision of online gaming services to the first userdevice 304 a (e.g., facilitating a decoupling of services provided byvarious applications on and/or from the various servers 310 a-b, 310d-g). According to some embodiments, the game broadcaster servers 310 dmay provide scheduled releases of information descriptive of an onlinegame. The game broadcaster servers 310 d may, for example, provide abroadcast feed of bingo numbers, slot and/or other random (and/orpseudo-random) number results that may be accessed by (and/ortransmitted to) the first user device 304 a (e.g., in connection withthe play of an online bingo, slots, and/or other game for whichbroadcast information may be utilized). In some embodiments, the chatservers 310 e may provide, manage, and/or facilitate communicationsbetween the first user device 304 a (and/or first user thereof) and oneor more other player/user devices (such as a second user device 302 band/or other player/user devices not shown in FIG. 3).

According to some embodiments, the second user device 304 b maygenerally comprise an electronic device owned and/or operated by a user(not shown) closely affiliated with an entity that operates the system300 (such entity also not shown). An employee (e.g., programmer and/orCustomer Service Representative (CSR)), contractor, and/or other agentof an online gaming company may, for example, utilize the second userdevice 304 b to interface with the privately-accessible VPN 304 d. TheVPN 304 d may, for example, provide direct access to the applicationservers 310 b, the database servers 310 f, the management and monitoringservers 310 g, and/or the application delivery controller cluster 322.In some embodiments (as depicted in FIG. 3), such access may be gatedthrough and/or insulated or protected by an internal firewall cluster308 b. The second user device 304 b may, for example, be required toprovide credentials to and/or otherwise access the application deliverycontroller cluster 322 and/or servers 310 a-g via the internal firewallcluster 308 b.

In some embodiments, the database servers 310 f may provide access toone or more databases and/or data stores (e.g., not shown in FIG. 3; fordata storage and/or retrieval). In some embodiments, the management andmonitoring servers 310 g may provide services such as monitoring,reporting, troubleshooting, analysis, configuring, etc. to the seconduser device 304 b. The second user device 304 b may, for example, accessthe management and monitoring servers 310 g and/or the database servers310 f to run reports descriptive of online gaming operations, game play,and/or game referral setup, management, and/or analysis. According tosome embodiments, either or both of the user devices 304 a-b inconjunction with one or more of the servers 310 a-g and/or theapplication delivery controller cluster 322 may conduct (in whole or inpart), facilitate, and/or otherwise be associated with execution of oneor more stored procedures, applications, processes, and/or methods(e.g., the method 800 of FIG. 8 herein, and/or a portion thereof).

Utilization of the term “server” with respect to the servers 310 a-g ofthe system 300 of FIG. 3 is meant solely to ease description of theconfiguration and/or functionality of the servers 310 a-g. The term“server” is not intended to be limiting with respect to any particularhardware, software, firmware, and/or quantities thereof utilized toimplement any or all of the servers 310 a-g of the system 300.Similarly, while multiple types and/or instances of the severs 310 a-gare depicted in FIG. 3, any or all of the servers 310 a-g may beimplemented in, on, and/or by one or multiple computer server and/orother electronic devices.

Referring now to FIG. 4, a block diagram of a system 400 according tosome embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 400 maycomprise and/or define a “front-end” architecture of a gaming platformsuch as a platform via which social, multiplayer, and/or online gamesmay be played. The system 400 may be similar in configuration and/orfunctionality, for example, to the system 300 of FIG. 3 and/or one ormore portions thereof. In some embodiments, the system 400 may comprisea user device 402, a plurality of networks (and/or environments and/orlayers) 404 a-j (e.g., the Internet 404 a, a DistributedDenial-of-Service (DDoS) protection layer 404 b, a primary transitprovider layer 404 c, a secondary transit provider layer 404 d, aPre-Production (PP) environment 404 e, a live environment 404 f, a LAN404 g, a backend environment 404 h, a PP backend layer 404 i, and/or alive backend layer 404 j), a plurality of routers 406 b-d, a pluralityof firewall devices 408 e-g, 408 i-j, a plurality of servers 410 e-f(e.g., a PP server cluster 410 e and/or a live server cluster 410 f), aplurality of switching devices 422 a, 422 e-f, 422 i-j, a TerminalConcentrator (TC) 424 f, a plurality of “hydra” services 430 i-j (e.g.,a PP hydra service 430 i and/or a live hydra service 430 j), and/or aplurality of Power Distribution Unit (PDU) devices 452 e-f.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 402, 404a-j, 406 b-d, 408 e-g, 408 i-j, 410 e-f, 422 a, 422 e-f, 422 i-j, 424 f,430 i-j, 452 e-f of the system 400 may be similar in configurationand/or functionality to any similarly named and/or numbered componentsdescribed herein. Fewer or more components 402, 404 a-j, 406 b-d, 408e-g, 408 i-j, 410 e-f, 422 a, 422 e-f, 422 i-j, 424 f, 430 i-j, 452 e-f(and/or portions thereof) and/or various configurations of thecomponents 402, 404 a-j, 406 b-d, 408 e-g, 408 i-j, 410 e-f, 422 a, 422e-f, 422 i-j, 424 f, 430 i-j, 452 e-f may be included in the system 400without deviating from the scope of embodiments described herein. Whilemultiple instances of some components 404 a-j, 406 b-d, 408 e-g, 408i-j, 410 e-f, 422 a, 422 e-f, 422 i-j, 430 i-j, 452 e-f are depicted andwhile single instances of other components 402, 424 f are depicted, forexample, any component 402, 404 a-j, 406 b-d, 408 e-g, 408 i-j, 410 e-f,422 a, 422 e-f, 422 i-j, 424 f, 430 i-j, 452 e-f depicted in the system400 may comprise a single device, a combination of devices and/orcomponents 402, 404 a-j, 406 b-d, 408 e-g, 408 i-j, 410 e-f, 422 a, 422e-f, 422 i-j, 424 f, 430 i-j, 452 e-f, and/or a plurality of devices, asis or becomes desirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in someembodiments, one or more of the various components 402, 404 a-j, 406b-d, 408 e-g, 408 i-j, 410 e-f, 422 a, 422 e-f, 422 i-j, 424 f, 430 i-j,452 e-f may not be needed and/or desired in the system 400.

In some embodiments, the user device 402 may be utilized to access oneor more of the PP environment 404 e, the live environment 404 f, and/orthe backend environment 404 h via the Internet 404 a. In someembodiments, the user device 402 may be utilized to access the backendenvironment 404 h and/or the PP hydra service 430 i via the PP backendlayer 404 i. A PP backend switch device 422 i and/or a PP backendfirewall device 408 i may, for example, gate and/or control access tothe backend environment 404 h and/or the PP hydra service 430 i, via thePP backend layer 404 i. In some embodiments, the user device 402 may beutilized to access the backend environment 404 h and/or the live hydraservice 430 j via the live backend layer 404 j. A live backend switchdevice 422 j and/or a live backend firewall device 408 j may, forexample, gate and/or control access to the backend environment 404 hand/or the live hydra service 430 j, via the live backend layer 404 j.

According to some embodiments, any communications (e.g., requests,calls, and/or messages) from the user device 402 may be passed throughthe DDoS protection layer 404 b. The DDoS protection layer 404 b may,for example, monitor and/or facilitate protection against various formsof cyber attacks including, but not limited to, DDoS attacks. In someembodiments, the DDoS protection layer 404 b may comprise and/or be incommunication with a plurality of DDoS router devices 406 b-1, 406 b-2,406 b-3, 406 b-4 that may be utilized to route and/or direct incomingcommunications (e.g., from the user device 402) to appropriate portionsof the system 400.

In some embodiments, the DDoS protection layer 404 b and/or a first DDoSrouter device 406 b-1 may route communications from the user device 402through and/or via a first switch device 422 a-1 and/or to, through,and/or via a first primary transit provider router device 406 c-1. Insome embodiments, the first switch device 422 a-1 may comprise a deviceutilized for security switching such as may implement communications inaccordance with the Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) communicationstunneling protocol described in RFC 2784 “Generic Routing Encapsulation(GRE)” published by the Network Working Group (NWG) in March, 2000. Thefirst primary transit provider router device 406 c-1 may, for example,provide access to the PP environment 404 e and/or the PP server cluster410 e thereof, such as via one or more PP firewall devices 408 e-1, 408e-2 and/or one or more PP switch devices 422 e-1, 422 e-2. According tosome embodiments, the PP switch devices 422 e-1, 422 e-2 may comprisecontent switching devices that process and route data (e.g., in the datalink layer) based on data content. In some embodiments, the firstprimary transit provider router device 406 c-1 may direct communicationsto, through, and/or via a PP LAN switch device 422 e-3 that providesand/or facilitates access to the LAN 404 g. The LAN 404 g may, forexample, provide private access to and/or between the PP environment 404e, the live environment 404 f, and/or the backend environment 404 h. Insome embodiments, the first primary transit provider router device 406c-1 and/or the PP LAN switch device 422 e-3 may direct communicationsto, through, and/or via a LAN firewall device 408 g that provides directaccess to either or both of the PP server cluster 410 e and the liveserver cluster 410 f.

According to some embodiments, the DDoS protection layer 404 b and/or asecond DDoS router device 406 b-2 may route communications from the userdevice 402 through and/or via a second switch device 422 a-2 and/or to,through, and/or via a first secondary transit provider router device 406d-1. In some embodiments, the second switch device 422 a-2 may comprisea device utilized for security switching such as may implementcommunications in accordance with the GRE communications tunnelingprotocol described in RFC 2784 “Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)”published by the Network Working Group (NWG) in March, 2000. The firstsecondary transit provider router device 406 d-1 may, for example,provide access to the live environment 404 f and/or the live servercluster 410 f thereof, such as via one or more live firewall devices 408f-1, 408 f-2 and/or one or more live switch devices 422 f-1, 422 f-2.According to some embodiments, the live switch devices 422 f-1, 422 f-2may comprise content switching devices that process and route data(e.g., in the data link layer) based on data content. In someembodiments, the first secondary transit provider router device 406 d-1may direct communications to, through, and/or via a live LAN switchdevice 422 f-3 that provides and/or facilitates access to the LAN 404 g.In some embodiments, the first secondary transit provider router device406 d-1 and/or the live LAN switch device 422 f-3 may directcommunications to, through, and/or via the LAN firewall device 408 gthat provides direct access to either or both of the PP server cluster410 e and the live server cluster 410 f.

In some embodiments, the DDoS protection layer 404 b and/or one or moreof a third DDoS router device 406 b-3 and/or a fourth DDoS router device406 b-4 may route communications from the user device 402 through and/orvia one or more of the primary transit provider layer 404 c and/or thesecondary transit provider layer 404 d. In some embodiments, a transitprovider switch device 422 a-3 may direct, swap, route, and/or managecommunications between the primary transit provider layer 404 c and thesecondary transit provider layer 404 d. According to some embodiments,the transit provider switch device 422 a-3 may comprise a switchingdevice that operates in accordance with an Exterior Border GatewayProtocol (EBGP)—e.g., the transit provider switch device 422 a-3 maycomprise one or more edge or border routers. In some embodiments, thefirst primary transit provider router device 406 c-1, the firstsecondary transit provider router device 406 d-1, a second primarytransit provider router device 406 c-2, and/or a second secondarytransit provider router device 406 d-2 may be utilized to route and/ordirect communications between (i) the primary transit provider layer 404c and/or the secondary transit provider layer 404 d and (ii) the PPenvironment 404 e and/or the live environment 404 f.

According to some embodiments, the PP server cluster 410 e and/or the PPenvironment 404 e may comprise various hardware, software, and/orfirmware that permits a user (e.g., of the user device 402) to program,edit, manage, and/or otherwise interface with PP game elements and/orinterfaces (e.g., for development and/or testing purposes). In someembodiments, the PDU devices 452 e-1, 452 e-2 may generally providepower distribution, supply, management, backup, and/or conditioningservices (e.g., to the PP server cluster 410 e) as is or becomesdesired. According to some embodiments, additional switch devices 422e-4, 422 e-5 may be utilized to distribute, balance, manage and/orcontrol communications to, from, and/or within the PP server cluster 410e.

In some embodiments, the live server cluster 410 f and/or the liveenvironment 404 f may comprise various hardware, software, and/orfirmware that permits a user (e.g., of the user device 402) to program,edit, manage, and/or otherwise interface with live game elements and/orinterfaces (e.g., for troubleshooting, corrective, and/or liveenvironment management purposes). In some embodiments, the PDU devices452 f-1, 452 f-2 may generally provide power distribution, supply,management, backup, and/or conditioning services (e.g., to the liveserver cluster 410 f) as is or becomes desired. According to someembodiments, additional switch devices 422 f-4, 422 f-5 may be utilizedto distribute, balance, manage and/or control communications to, from,and/or within the live server cluster 410 f. In some embodiments, the TCdevice 424 f may be utilized to manage communications from a variety ofdata sources such as by providing communication capability betweenvarious communications channels (not separately depicted in FIG. 3).

Turning to FIG. 5, a block diagram of a system 500 according to someembodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 500 may compriseand/or define a “back-end” architecture of a gaming platform such as aplatform via which social, multiplayer, and/or online games may beplayed. The system 500 may be utilized in conjunction with the systems300, 400 if FIG. 3 and/or FIG. 4 herein, for example, and/or may besimilar in configuration and/or functionality to the backend environment404 h of the system 400 of FIG. 4. In some embodiments, the system 500may comprise a user device 502, a plurality of networks (and/orenvironments and/or layers) 504 a-i (e.g., the Internet 504 a, an ISP504 b, an External Firewall-Router (EXTFW-RTR) Virtual LAN (VLAN) 504 c,an Internet VLAN 504 d, an Internal-External (INT-EXT) VLAN 504 e, a webVLAN 504 f, a database VLAN 504 g, an application VLAN 504 h, and/or anadministrator VLAN 504 i), an external router cluster 506, a pluralityof firewall clusters 508 a-b (e.g., an external firewall cluster 508 aand/or an internal firewall cluster 508 b), a plurality of servers 510a-j (e.g., a server cluster 510 a, a first spare server pool 510 b, asecond spare server pool 510 c, database servers 510 d, “hydra” servers510 e, game controllers 510 f, ruby servers 510 g, admin servers 510 h,monitoring servers 510 i, and/or logging servers 510 j), a plurality ofswitches 522 a-d (e.g., content switches 522 a, Storage Area Network(SAN) switches 522 b, connectivity switches 522 c, and/or networkswitches 522 d), a TC device 524, a SAN storage device 540, and/or oneor more PDU devices 552.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 502, 504a-l, 506, 508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522 a-d, 524, 540, 552 of the system 500 maybe similar in configuration and/or functionality to any similarly namedand/or numbered components described herein. Fewer or more components502, 504 a-l, 506, 508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522 a-d, 524, 540, 552 (and/orportions thereof) and/or various configurations of the components 502,504 a-l, 506, 508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522 a-d, 524, 540, 552 may be includedin the system 500 without deviating from the scope of embodimentsdescribed herein. While multiple instances of some components 504 a-l,508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522 a-d are depicted and while single instances ofother components 502, 506, 524, 540, 552 are depicted, for example, anycomponent 502, 504 a-l, 506, 508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522 a-d, 524, 540, 552depicted in the system 500 may comprise a single device, a combinationof devices and/or components 502, 504 a-l, 506, 508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522a-d, 524, 540, 552, and/or a plurality of devices, as is or becomesdesirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments, one ormore of the various components 502, 504 a-l, 506, 508 a-b, 510 a-j, 522a-d, 524, 540, 552 may not be needed and/or desired in the system 500.

In some embodiments, the user device 502 may be utilized to accessand/or interface with one or more of the servers 510 a-j via theInternet 504 a. In some embodiments, the Internet 502 a may be linked tothe ISP 504 b via multiple (e.g., redundant) connectivity paths 504 b-1,504 b-2 (e.g., for load balancing, security, and/or failure recovery).According to some embodiments, the ISP 504 b may be in communicationwith (and/or comprise) the external router cluster 506. The externalrouter cluster 506 may route certain requests, calls, and/ortransmissions (and/or users—e.g., based on credentials and/or otherinformation) through the EXTFW-RTR VLAN 504 c and/or through theexternal firewall cluster 508 a, for example, and/or may route certainrequests, calls, and/or transmissions (and/or users—e.g., based oncredentials and/or other information) through the Internet VLAN 504 dand/or through the internal firewall cluster 508 b.

In the case that a user (not shown) of the user device 502 comprises anonline game player, consumer, and/or other member of the public, forexample, the external router cluster 506 may direct communicationsthrough the EXTFW-RTR VLAN 504 c and/or through the external firewallcluster 508 a. In the case that the user of the user device 502comprises a programmer, tester, employee, and/or other agent of anentity that operates the system 500, for example, the external routercluster 506 may direct communications through the Internet VLAN 504 dand/or through the internal firewall cluster 508 b. In some embodiments,access via either or both of the external firewall cluster 508 a and/orthe internal firewall cluster 508 b may permit the user device 502 tocommunicate via the INT-EXT VLAN 504 e. The INT-EXT VLAN 504 e may, forexample, provide access to the content switches 522 a which may, in someembodiments, serve content from any or all of the servers 510 a-j to theuser device 502, as is or becomes appropriate or desired. In someembodiments, the content switches 522 a may communicate with the firstspare server pool 510 b via the web LAN 504 f.

According to some embodiments, private and/or other specialized accessto the system 500 via the internal firewall cluster 508 b may permit theuser device 502 to communicate via one or more of the database VLAN 504g, the application VLAN 504 h, and/or the admin VLAN 504 i. The databaseVLAN 504 g may be utilized, for example, to access and/or communicatewith the database servers 510 d. In some embodiments, the applicationVLAN 504 h may be utilized to access and/or communicate with any or allof the hydra servers 510 e, the game controllers 510 f, and/or the rubyservers 510 g.

The admin VLAN 504 i may allow, promote, conduct, facilitate, and/ormanage a wide variety of communications within the system 500. The adminVLAN 504 i may, for example, communicatively connect and/or couple anyor all of the firewalls 508 a-b, the servers 510 a-j, the switches 522a-d, the TC device 524, the SAN storage 540, and/or the PDU devices 552.The user device 502 may be utilized, in conjunction with the adminservers 510 h and/or via the admin VLAN 504 i for example, to define,edit, adjust, manage, and/or otherwise access settings (and/or data) ofthe firewalls 508 a-b, any or all of the switches 522 a-d, the TC device524, and/or the PDU devices 552. In some embodiments, the user device502 (and/or the admin servers 510 h) may be utilized to manage and/oraccess content, rules, settings, and/or performance characteristics orpreferences for any or all of the servers 510 a-j.

In some embodiments, the server cluster 510 a may comprise one or moreservers and/or other electronic controller devices (e.g., blade servers)configured to provide online gaming data (e.g., interfaces and/orresults) to the user device 502. According to some embodiments, thefirst spare server pool 510 b and/or the second spare server pool 510 cmay comprise one or more server and/or other electronic controllerdevices configured to supplement and/or replace the server cluster 510 aas needed and/or desired (e.g., to manage load and/or error recoverysituations). In some embodiments, the database servers 510 c may provideand/or manage access to stored data such as data stored in and/or by theSAN storage device 540. In some embodiments, the hydra servers 510 eand/or the game controllers 510 f may provide online game informationsuch as interfaces, results, graphics, sounds, and/or other media to theuser device 502 (e.g., via the application VLAN 504 h). In someembodiments, the ruby servers 510 g may comprise one or more processingdevices configured to provide access to one or more programminglanguages (e.g., “Ruby”) and/or Application Programming Interface (API)mechanisms via which the servers 510 a-j and/or other portions of thesystem 500 may be configured to operate (e.g., in accordance withspecially and/or pre-programmed instructions written in the programminglanguage and/or developed by the API provided by the ruby servers 510g). According to some embodiments, the admin servers 510 h, themonitoring servers 510 i, and/or the logging servers 510 j may beutilized and/or configured to provide administrative, parameter and/ormetric monitoring and/or reporting, and/or data logging and/or auditservices, respectively.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a block diagram of a system 600 according tosome embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 600 maycomprise one or more original (and/or referring) players 602 (e.g.,player #101; e.g., a “Sugar Daddy” and/or “Parent”), one or more firsttier referral players 604 (e.g., players #201 and #202; e.g., “SugarBuddies” and/or “Children”), one or more second tier referral players606 (e.g., players #301, #302, and #303; e.g., “Sugar Buddies” and/or“Grandchildren”), and/or one or more third tier referral players 608(e.g., players #401 and #402; e.g., “Sugar Buddies” and/or“Great-Grandchildren”). In some embodiments, any or all of the players602, 604, 606, 608 may be associated with one or more game rooms 660 a-c(e.g., game sessions, game instances, game types, game rooms, etc.).

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 602, 604,606, 608, 660 a-c of the system 600 may be similar in configurationand/or functionality to any similarly named and/or numbered componentsdescribed herein. Fewer or more components 602, 604, 606, 608, 660 a-c(and/or portions thereof) and/or various configurations of thecomponents 602, 604, 606, 608, 660 a-c may be included in the system 600without deviating from the scope of embodiments described herein. Anycomponent 602, 604, 606, 608, 660 a-c depicted in the system 600 maycomprise a single object, a combination of objects and/or components602, 604, 606, 608, 660 a-c, and/or a plurality of objects, as is orbecomes desirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments,one or more of the various components 602, 604, 606, 608, 660 a-c maynot be needed and/or desired in the system 600.

In some embodiments, the various players 602, 604, 606, 608 may berelated via player referrals. The original or Parent player 602, forexample, may have invited and/or referred each of the first tier playersor Children 604 to an online gaming system (e.g., the system 600).Typical referral systems may provide a bonus and/or other incentive tothe Parent player 602 for having referred the Children players 604(e.g., upon the Children players 604 establishing accounts with thesystem 600). In some embodiments, the player #202 of the Childrenplayers 604 may have similarly referred and/or invited each of thesecond tier or Grandchildren players 606. In typical systems, the player#202 of the Children players 604 may be rewarded for having referred theGrandchildren players 606. According to some embodiments, the player#302 of the Grandchildren players 606 may have invited and/or referredthe Great-Grandchildren players 608. The referral (and/or other, such asa “friend” and/or social networking) relationships between the players602, 604, 606, 608 depicted in FIG. 6 are provided for non-limitingexemplary purposes and for illustration and ease of description only.Fewer or more referral relationships may be possible and/or desirable inaccordance with some embodiments.

According to some embodiments, the players 602, 604, 606, 608 may haveaccess to, login to, register for, enter, join, and/or play an onlinegame (e.g., an online multiplayer game such as bingo) via one or more ofthe game rooms 660 a-c. In some embodiments, a first game room 660 a mayhost a first game (e.g., “Bingo Game #1”), a second game room 660 b mayhost a second game (e.g., “Bingo Game #2”), and/or a third game room 660c may host a third game (e.g., “Bingo Game #3”). As depicted in FIG. 6,each game room 660 a-c may list the players currently logged-in,registered for, joined, and/or playing in the respective game. Asutilized herein, the term “game room” may generally refer to anygrouping, segmentation, categorization, listing, and/or other virtualand/or actual association between one or more players and a particulargame, game type, and/or game session. As is typical in many onlinegames, for example, players may join a particular server hosting aparticular game and/or may enter and/or join a particular “room” (e.g.,a virtual and/or graphical representation of a particular grouping ofplayers) via which a game may be played. In many cases, such “rooms”comprise “lobbies” or areas where players may virtually congregatebetween sessions of a game hosted by and/or via the room and/orotherwise when not playing (e.g., prior to joining an actual session ofthe game play and/or after having joined—e.g., after elimination).According to some embodiments, the game rooms 610 a-c may compriseonline virtual game rooms in which different sessions of the respectivegames are hosted and/or managed.

In some embodiments, the referral relationships between the variousplayers 602, 604, 606, 608 may be identified and/or determined withrespect to one or more of the game rooms 660 a-c. With respect to thefirst game room 660 a, for example, it may be determined that the Parentplayer 602, player #201 of the Children players 604, and player #302 ofthe Grandchildren players 606 have each joined, registered for, entered,and/or are otherwise associated with the first game room 660 a. In someembodiments, it may be determined that each of players #101, #201, and#302 are playing, have played, and/or are likely to imminently play in agame session hosted by and/or via the first game room 660 a. Accordingto some embodiments, one or more of the players #101, #201, and #302 inthe first game room 660 a may be rewarded based on the referral (and/orother type) of relationship between the players #101, #201, and #302 andbased on their joining and/or playing in the first game room 660 a(e.g., the same game room; and/or game session).

According to some embodiments for example, any or all of the players#101, #201, and #302 may be awarded monetary value (e.g., credits,currency (virtual or real), points, miles) and/or may be awarded afeature, characteristic, power, advantage, bonus, and/or other benefitin the first game room 660 a, in the respective “Bingo Game #1”, and/orin a particular session of the game. In some embodiments, the rewardingmay be conducted upon a determination that (i) the players #101, #201,and #302 are all “in” the first game room 610 a, and/or (ii) the players#101, #201, and #302 are all actively playing (or have completedplaying) in/via the first game room 660 a. For example, the Parentplayer 602 may receive a bonus of a first magnitude for having managedto have successfully referred both of player #201 and player #302 andfor having managed to join the same game room (the first game room 660a) and/or game session as the referred player #201 and player #302.

In some embodiments, either or both of player #201 and player #302 mayalso (or alternatively) receive bonuses, such as of a second magnitudedifferent than the first magnitude (e.g., lower) for having managed tojoin the same game room (the first game room 660 a) and/or game sessionas the Parent player 602. In some embodiments, such referral bonuses mayonly be provided to one or more of the players #101, #201, and #302 inthe case that one or more of such players #101, #201, and #302 achievesa winning condition in a game session conducted via the first game room660 a. In the case of the example “Bingo Game #1”, for example, in thecase that the Parent player 602 wins a bingo match conducted via thefirst game room 660 a, the Parent player 602 may be awarded not only theallotted prize for achieving the win, but may also receive a bonusand/or other benefit due to the presence of the player #201 and/orplayer #302 in the same room and/or session.

As another example, it may be determined that each of player #202 of theChildren players 604 and player #301 and player #303 of theGrandchildren players 606 are associated with the second game room 660b. It may be determined, for example, that a particular game session isbeing conducted in and/or via the second game room 660 b and that theplayers #202, #301, and #303 are currently competing in the game session(adversarially or cooperatively). In some embodiments, a referral and/orfriend reward may be provided in response to such a determination (uponcompletion of the determination and/or upon one of the players #202,#301, and #303 winning the game session in the second game room 660 b).In some embodiments, the magnitude of the reward may be based upon themagnitude of related players 602, 604, 606, 608 in the samesession/room. In the example of the second game room 660 b, for example,player #202 may receive a larger benefit (e.g., a double and/or additivebonus) due to two (2) Grandchildren players 606 being in the samesession/room as the player #202 (and having been referred, invited,and/or “friended” by, the player #202).

In some embodiments, rewards for playing with (and/or being in the samegame room 660 a-c with) related players (e.g., related by referrals,friend status, and/or otherwise) may be based upon and/or take intoaccount other factors. In the example of the third game room 660 c, forexample, the Great-Grandchildren players 608 may receive a specialreward and/or bonus for having managed to join the entire“Great-Grandchild” generation (i.e., all of the Great-Grandchildrenplayers 608) in the same session/room. Such a bonus may differ inmagnitude from other related-player bonuses (such as those describedwith respect to the first game room 660 a and/or the second game room660 b; such as by being larger). In some embodiments, rewards may bebased on player participation in the third game room 660 c (and/or oneor more of the game sessions thereof) outside of the relationships ofthe referral players 602, 604, 606, 608. As indicated by the dottedarrow pointing to player #403, for example, one or more of the players#401, #402, and #403 may receive a reward for playing together, eventhough player #403 is not a member of the same referral/friend tree.Rewards may be based, for example, on playing with other players havingcertain pre-defined characteristics and/or other criteria (known orunknown to the players). The system 600 may reward players havingconsecutive player identifiers (e.g., players #401, #402, and #403) thatplay together, for example, and/or may reward players of a certaingeographic, demographic, and/or other class, type, and orcategorization.

According to some embodiments, a relationship between the originalplayer 602 and one or more of the referral players 604, 606, 608 may beassociated (e.g., cause and/or trigger) with an awarding of a benefit,reward, and/or prize based on a magnitude of interaction of the one ormore of the referral players 604, 606, 608 with the system 600 (and/oran associated entity). An online gaming, wagering, and/or other entityand/or company may, for example, allow and/or provide login credentialsand/or player (or other type) accounts that may be utilized to playgames, place wagers, make purchases, win prizes (e.g., jackpots), etc.In some embodiments, a first reward and/or benefit may be provided tothe original player 602 in the case that a referral player 604, 606, 608(i.e., someone that the original player 602 has referred to the entity,company, website, game, and/or system 600) consummates a first action.In some embodiments, one or more second rewards/benefits may be providedin the case that the referral player 604, 606, 608 consummates a secondaction. A first monetary amount or other award (e.g., a game featureand/or attribute) may be provided to the original player 602 in the casethat the referral player 604, 606, 608 visits a website, for example,and/or a second monetary amount/other award may be provided in the casethat the referral player 604, 606, 608 creates a player and/or othertype of account at/with the website, logs into such an account, places awager utilizing the account, wins a game utilizing the account, etc. Insome embodiments, such tiered benefits may be mutually exclusive—e.g., asecond and/or subsequent reward replaces the first reward. According tosome embodiments, such benefits may be at least partially cumulative.

Turning to FIG. 7, a block diagram of a system 700 according to someembodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 700 may comprise aplurality of online games 760 a-c, each gaming defining and/orcomprising various attributes. In the case of an online wagering and/ormultiplayer game such as bingo, as depicted, the games 760 a-c maydefine and/or comprise wager amounts 762 a-c, progressive win amounts764 a-c, group RAF bonuses 766 a-c, and/or win amounts 768 a-c.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 760 a-c, 762a-c, 764 a-c, 766 a-c, 768 a-c of the system 700 may be similar inconfiguration and/or functionality to any similarly named and/ornumbered components described herein. Fewer or more components 760 a-c,762 a-c, 764 a-c, 766 a-c, 768 a-c (and/or portions thereof) and/orvarious configurations of the components 760 a-c, 762 a-c, 764 a-c, 766a-c, 768 a-c may be included in the system 700 without deviating fromthe scope of embodiments described herein. Any component 760 a-c, 762a-c, 764 a-c, 766 a-c, 768 a-c depicted in the system 700 may comprise asingle object, a combination of objects and/or components 760 a-c, 762a-c, 764 a-c, 766 a-c, 768 a-c, and/or a plurality of objects, as is orbecomes desirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments,one or more of the various components 760 a-c, 762 a-c, 764 a-c, 766a-c, 768 a-c may not be needed and/or desired in the system 700.

In some embodiments, the system 700 may illustrate how player and/orgroup referrals (and/or other relationships) affect implementation ofonline games 760 a-c. A first online game 760 a (e.g., “Bingo Game #1”as depicted; and/or game session or room) may, for example, beconfigured to require (and/or accept) a first wager amount 762 a of onehundred (100) units (e.g., credits, dollars, points, and/or otherindicators of monetary, pseudo-monetary, and/or non-monetary value), mayprovide a first progressive win amount 764 a of ten percent (10%) of thefirst wager amount 762 a (i.e., ten (10) units), and/or may provide afirst win amount 768 a of sixty-five (65) units. In the example of FIG.7, the first game 760 a may illustrate an example of a typical“progressive” online game configuration. The first game 760 a may, asdepicted for example, not include and/or offer any first group RAFbonuses 766 a.

In some embodiments, a second online game 760 b (and/or game session orroom) may also (or alternatively) illustrate an example of a typical“standard” and/or “non-progressive” online game configuration. Thesecond game 760 b may, for example, be configured to require (and/oraccept) a second wager 762 b of one hundred (100) units (e.g., credits,dollars, points, and/or other indicators of monetary, pseudo-monetary,and/or non-monetary value), may not provide any second progressive winamount 764 b (and/or may provide the second progressive win amount 764 bas zero percent (0%) of the second wager amount 762 b (i.e., zero (0)units)), and/or may provide a second win amount 768 b of eighty (80)units. In the example of FIG. 7, the second game 760 b may not includeand/or offer any second group RAF bonuses 766 b.

According to some embodiments, a third game 760 c (and/or game sessionor room) may be configured to require (and/or accept) a third wageramount 762 c of one hundred (100) units (e.g., credits, dollars, points,and/or other indicators of monetary, pseudo-monetary, and/ornon-monetary value), may not provide any third progressive win amount764 c (and/or may provide the third progressive win amount 764 c as zeropercent (0%) of the third wager amount 762 c (i.e., zero (0) units)),and/or may provide a third win amount 768 c of seventy (70) units. Inthe example of the third game 760 c, third group RAF bonuses 766 c areprovided. As depicted, for example, a typical player of the third game760 c (e.g., a non-“buddy”) may be awarded a first bonus amount 766 c-1of a first magnitude (e.g., zero percent (0%) or zero (0) units), aplayer having joined as a result of a referral (and/or otherwise havinga pre-defined relationship and/or a relationship of a relatively lowerhierarchical rank with respect to another related player; a “buddy”) maybe awarded a second bonus amount 766 c-2 of a second magnitude (e.g.,ten percent (10%) or ten (10) units), and/or a player having referredothers (and/or otherwise having a pre-defined relationship and/or arelationship of a relatively higher hierarchical rank with respect toanother related player; a “daddy”) may be awarded various bonus amountsbased on a number of “buddies” playing in the same session/room/game(e.g., the third game 760 c) as the “daddy”. The “daddy” may be awarded,for example, (i) a third bonus amount 766 c-3 of a third magnitude(e.g., one hundred percent (100%) or one hundred (100) units) in thecase that three (3) “buddies” play with the “daddy”, (ii) a fourth bonusamount 766 c-4 of a fourth magnitude (e.g., fifty percent (50%) or fifty(50) units) in the case that two (2) “buddies” play with the “daddy”,(iii) a fifth bonus amount 766 c-5 of a fifth magnitude (e.g.,twenty-five percent (25%) or twenty-five (25) units) in the case thatone (1) “buddy” plays with the “daddy”, and/or (iv) a sixth bonus amount766 c-6 of a sixth magnitude (e.g., zero percent (0%) or zero (0) units)in the case that zero (0) “buddies” play with the “daddy”.

The various magnitudes depicted for the bonus amounts 766 c-1, 766 c-2,766 c-3, 766 c-4, 766 c-5, 766 c-6 are provided as non-limitingexamples. Other magnitudes, hierarchical relationships, schemes, and/orconfigurations of the bonus amounts 766 c-1, 766 c-2, 766 c-3, 766 c-4,766 c-5, 766 c-6 may be provided in some embodiments. In someembodiments, fewer or more bonus amounts 766 c-1, 766 c-2, 766 c-3, 766c-4, 766 c-5, 766 c-6 may be provided. In some embodiments, the bonusamounts 766 c-1, 766 c-2, 766 c-3, 766 c-4, 766 c-5, 766 c-6 may beawarded upon the occurrence of various triggering conditions and/or thesatisfaction of one or more pre-stored rules and/or criteria. The secondbonus amount 766 c-2 may awarded to a player having been referred to thethird game 760 c, for example, upon the “buddy” logging into, joining,registering for, and/or initiating play of a game session of the thirdgame 760 c and/or the second bonus amount 766 c-2 may be provided to the“buddy” in the case that the “buddy” earns and/or obtains the third winamount 768 c. In some embodiments, the bonus amounts 766 c-1, 766 c-2,766 c-3, 766 c-4, 766 c-5, 766 c-6 may be based on the number of playersof the third game 760 c, the number of related/referral players and/ortypes thereof in the third game 760 c (e.g., as depicted by the third,fourth, and fifth bonus amounts 766 c-3, 766 c-4, 766 c-5), the thirdwager amount 762 c, and/or the third win amount 768 c (e.g., amultiplier thereof).

According to some embodiments, implementation of a referral bonusfeature may cause an alteration and/or setting of various gameparameters. While a typical “non-progressive” game such as the secondgame 760 b may be configured to provide the second win amount 768 b ofeighty (80) units, for example, a group RAF version of the second game760 b—e.g., the third game 760 c—may be altered and/or configured toprovide, instead, the third win amount 768 c of seventy (70) units. Theten (10) unit difference may, for example, be implemented to account forthe possibility that group RAF players (i.e., “daddies” and “buddies”)may earn and/or achieve one or more of the third group RAF bonuses 716c. Similarly, a typical “progressive” game such as the first game 760 ain some embodiments, may be altered and/or configured to provide thethird win amount 768 c instead of the first win amount 768 a (and/or thefirst progressive win amount 764 a may be modified to become the thirdprogressive win amount 764 c and/or the first group RAF bonus amounts766 a may be altered to becomes the third group RAF bonus amounts 766c).

In some embodiments, the first game 760 a and/or the second game 760 bmay be actively altered and/or reconfigured to define the third game 760c. The first game 760 a may be configured as depicted in FIG. 7, forexample, but may be reconfigured as depicted by the path “A” upon anoccurrence of one or more triggering events. In the case that the firstgame 760 a is populated by a plurality of group RAF players, forexample, the third group RAF bonuses 766 c may be implemented (e.g., toreward player referrals and/or coordinated playing), the thirdprogressive win amount 764 c may be implemented (e.g., effectivelyremoving the progressive feature from the game), and/or the third winamount 768 c may be implemented (e.g., actually increasing the standardwin for a game session). In accordance with such an embodiment, thefirst game 760 a may be transformed and/or converted into the third game760 c. This may occur in a variety of manners such as by switchingplayers of the first game 760 a from a first game room (not separatelydepicted) to a third game room (also not separately depicted) or bymodifying the game parameters within a single game room.

Similarly, the second game 760 b may be configured as depicted in FIG.7, for example, but may be reconfigured as depicted by the path “B” uponan occurrence of one or more triggering events. Upon a win by a groupRAF player in the second game 760 b, for example, the game parametersmay be altered to achieve the third game 760 c (e.g., within the samegame room/server). In some embodiments, reconfiguration may occurbetween game sessions. A first game session of the second game 760 b maybe conducted, for example, in which a plurality of group RAF playershave joined and/or played. Based on their presence (generally orspecifically, such as based on the number and/or configuration of suchplayers in the second game 760 b) the second game 760 b may be convertedto the third game 760 c for the next/subsequent game session. In such amanner, for example, the makeup of players in a given game 760 a-cand/or game room may affect the game parameters implemented insubsequent sessions of the same game and/or games in the same room or onthe same server. In some embodiments, the presence of certain payershaving per-defined relationships (e.g., referrals, “friends”,adversaries, stat-based groupings) in a first game session may cause asubsequent game session to be reconfigured. In the example of FIG. 7,for example, the win amounts 768 a may be adjusted and/or the group RAFbonuses 766 a-c may be implemented.

According to some embodiments, the games 760 a-c may comprisemultiplayer online games such as the depicted bingo, poker, sportssimulation games, strategy games, first-person shooter games,role-playing games, etc. In some embodiments, the games 760 a-c maycomprise wagering games, games of chance, games of skill, and/or hybridsthereof. In some embodiments, the win amounts 768 a-c may compriseand/or define benefits conferred upon a limited set of players in asingle session of the games 760 a-c. A single session of the second game760 b may, for example, involve a plurality of players (not shown inFIG. 7) playing adversarially and/or cooperatively to obtain the secondwin amount 768 b. In some embodiments, the second win amount 768 b maybe provided to a single “winner” (in skill, chance, and/or both) of thesession of the second game 760 b or may be provided to a subset of thetop ranked players at the end of game play (each such player may receivethe second win amount 768 b, for example, or the second win amount 768 bmay be split amongst such players evenly, randomly, and/or in a pro rataor other distribution fashion).

Turning to FIG. 8, a flow diagram of a method 800 according to someembodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the method 800 may beperformed and/or implemented by and/or otherwise associated with one ormore specialized and/or computerized processing devices (e.g., theplayer and/or user devices 102 a-n, 202 a-n, 302 a-b, 402, 502 and/orthe servers and/or controller devices 110, 210 a-n, 310 a-g, 410 e-f,510 a-j of FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and/or FIG. 5 herein),specialized computers, computer terminals, computer servers, computersystems and/or networks, and/or any combinations thereof (e.g., by oneor more online gaming company and/or online gaming player processingdevices). In some embodiments, the method 800 may be embodied in,facilitated by, and/or otherwise associated with various inputmechanisms and/or interfaces such as the interfaces 920 a-e of FIG. 9A,FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and/or FIG. 9E, herein.

The process and/or flow diagrams described herein do not necessarilyimply a fixed order to any depicted actions, steps, and/or procedures,and embodiments may generally be performed in any order that ispracticable unless otherwise and specifically noted. Any of theprocesses and/or methods described herein may be performed and/orfacilitated by hardware, software (including microcode), firmware, orany combination thereof. For example, a storage medium (e.g., a harddisk, Universal Serial Bus (USB) mass storage device, and/or DigitalVideo Disk (DVD)) may store thereon instructions that when executed by amachine (such as a computerized processing device) result in performanceaccording to any one or more of the embodiments described herein.

In some embodiments, the method 800 may comprise determining arelationship between players, at 802. An electronic and/or computerizedprocessing device and/or controller device may, for example, identify,lookup, derive, and/or otherwise determine that two or more players arerelated. In some embodiments, the players may be related by nature of afirst one of the players having referred a second one of the players toan online gaming system. In some embodiments, players may be related bynature of a stored indication that the players are “friends”—e.g.,within an online gaming system/account system and/or within and/or viaone or more social media systems and/or accounts such as Facebook®,Twitter®, etc. In some embodiments, the relationship may be determinedby receiving one or more indications from one or more of the players. Afirst and/or referring player may “invite” the other player(s) to thesystem (and/or to a specific game room and/or session) via an interfaceprovided by the system, for example, such that the system is privy to anidentifier of the invited player (as well as an identifier of theinviting/referring player). In the case that the invited player responds(e.g., directly to the invite, such as by clicking on a hyperlink and/orindirectly), the system may utilize identifying information of theresponding player to determine that the invited player is related to theinviting player.

In some embodiments, the inviting and/or referred player may provide acode and/or other identifier to the system, e.g., upon registrationand/or otherwise. The system may utilize the code and/or identifier toidentify the referring/inviting player and accordingly define and/orestablish a relationship there between. In some embodiments, third-partysystems and/or websites or devices may be queried and/or accessed todetermine a relationship between players. The system may, for example,search a third-party account system (e.g., Facebook®) to determine whichregistered online game players are related via such a third-partysystem. In some embodiments, players may then be contacted and/orprompted to carry-over such third-party relationships into the gamingaccount system. In some embodiments, such third-party relationships maybe determined by receiving a query and/or prompt from and/or via such athird-party system. A player may utilize a third-party account system torequest and/or notify the gaming system of a third-party relationshipbetween players, for example.

According to some embodiments, the method 800 may comprise determiningthat the players are in the same game session, at 804. With respect to agame such as an online game, a multiplayer game, a wagering game, askill game, and/or any combinations thereof, for example, it may bedetermined that the related players are logged into, have joined, areregistered for, and/or are playing in a particular game session (e.g.,an instance of a game), game room, and/or on a particular game server.Player identifiers for players in a particular game session and/or roommay be cross-references and/or checked, for example, to determine thattwo or more of the players are related. In some embodiments, the natureof the relationship may be determined. It may be determined, forexample, that the players are related as a referring player (e.g., a“Sugar Daddy”) and a referred player (e.g., a “Sugar Buddy”), as socialnetworking “friends” (and/or family), and/or as players selected by thesystem as being related (e.g., to incent such players to play together).According to some embodiments, such as in the case that more than two(2) related players are determined to be in the same session/room, itmay be determined how many related players (and/or related players ofcertain tiers and/or classes) are in the same session/room (e.g., it maybe determined that a single “Sugar Daddy” and two (2) “Sugar Buddies”are playing the same game session).

In some embodiments, the method 800 may comprise determining a win byone of the players, at 806. The gaming system may, for example,determine that one or more conditions required for achieving a wincondition (due to skill and/or chance) have been satisfied with respectto one or more players (e.g., as part of an execution of a game programand/or procedure). In some embodiments, the win may comprise an ultimateand/or concluding win for a game session. Such a win may be earnedsolely by a single winning player and/or team or may be distributed insome fashion amongst a subset of the highest ranking and/or top-ratedplayers having finished and/or completed the game session. In someembodiments, the win may comprise an intermediate, non-final and/ornon-conclusory, and/or other win and/or winning event and/or outcome.The win may comprise, for example, an achievement earned and/or obtainedvia game play in the game session such as a rate of play, number of“kills”, team cooperative-play points (and/or other team-based metrics),etc. In some embodiments, it may be determined that two (2) or morerelated players (e.g., two or more referral-related players) haveachieved a winning condition.

According to some embodiments, the method 800 may comprise rewarding thewinning player based on the presence of the related player in the samegame session, at 808. In some embodiments, the rewarding may beconducted in response to the determining of the win by the one of theplayers at 806. The winning player, for example, may be awarded a prizebased on a successful completion of the game session and/or may receivean additional prize and/or consideration based on the presence of therelated player(s) in the session that has been won. In some embodiments,a single prize may be awarded but may be selected (e.g., from a pool ofavailable prizes) and/or defined (e.g., in terms of magnitude and/ortype) based on the presence of the related player(s) in the same gamesession as the winning player. In some embodiments, such as in the casethat the win comprises an intermediate win and/or an in-game achievement(e.g., as opposed to a conclusory and/or game session-ending win), anin-game bonus, feature, capability, and/or item may be selected and/orprovided based on the achievement occurring in the presence of therelated player(s).

In some embodiments, the rewarding may be conducted in response to thedetermining that the players are in the same game session at 804. One ormore of the related players may be rewarded even in the absence of awin, for example, such as upon initiating play of the same game session,entering the same game room, and/or performing some joint action in thegame session. According to some embodiments, the rewarding may be basedon a number and/or type of related players in the same game sessionand/or room (and/or a number of related players that achieve one or morewin conditions in the game session/room). A winning player having playedwith zero (0) related players in the same session may receive a defaultand/or standard prize, for example, while in the case that one (1)related player was present for the win (and/or during at least a portionof the game play of the session) a higher-magnitude and/or differentprize may be awarded, and/or in the case that three (3) related playerswere present to “witness” the win an even higher-magnitude prize and/ordifferent prize and/or prize type may be provided to the winning player.In some embodiments, certain numbers and/or combinations of relationshiptypes may be promoted by enhancing awards for players playing in gamesessions (and/or winning such game sessions) where such combinationsoccur.

In some embodiments, the rewarding may occur after an initial gamesession in which it is determined (e.g., at 804) that the relatedplayers are present. Player lists from a first game session mayinfluence and/or dictate or define game parameters (e.g., win amounts,bonus amounts, and/or progressive settings) for subsequent gamesessions, for example. In some embodiments, such game parameter changesmay take place in a given game room, server, and/or for a particulargame type, class, and/or tournament and be applied to subsequenttournaments. In some embodiments, such changes may be effectuatedregardless of whether the player list stays the same. The subsequentgame session may, for example, have a different player composition(e.g., may not include the related players and/or the same relatedplayers) yet may nevertheless be altered based on the player compositionfrom the previous session.

Turning now to FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and FIG. 9E, exampleuser interfaces 920 a-e according to some embodiments are shown. In someembodiments, the user interfaces 920 a-e may comprise one or more webpages, web forms, web browser plug-ins and/or add-ins, database entryforms, API tools, spreadsheets, tables, and/or applications or other GUItools via which a user may participate in, conduct, and/or manage one ormore online games. The user interfaces 920 a-e may, for example,comprise a front-end of an online gaming portal program and/or platformprogrammed and/or otherwise configured to execute, conduct, and/orfacilitate the method 800 of FIG. 8 and/or portions or combinationsthereof described herein. In some embodiments, the user interfaces 920a-e may be output via a computerized and/or electronic device such asone or more of the player and/or user devices 102 a-n, 202 a-n, 302 a-b,402, 502 and/or the servers and/or controller devices 110, 210 a-n, 310a-g, 410 e-f, 510 a-j of FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and/or FIG. 5herein.

According to some embodiments, and referring specifically to FIG. 9A, afirst user interface 920 a may comprise one or more tabs and/or othersegmented and/or logical-presented data forms and/or fields. In someembodiments, the first user interface 920 a may be configured and/ororganized to provide a user (e.g., a player and/or customer) withinformation related to an online game. In the example first userinterface 920 a of FIG. 9A, for example, the first interface 920 a mayindicate that the information provided via the first interface 920 a isdescriptive of a particular bingo game 960 a (e.g., a “90 BallBingo—Bingo Royale” and/or “Game No. 3765854013”). The particular bingogame 960 a may, for example, comprise a particular game session, aparticular game “room”, a particular game tournament, and/or mayotherwise specifically and/or uniquely identify a particular instance ofa game, game type, and/or game activity. In some embodiments, the firstuser interface 920 a may display information descriptive of theparticular bingo game 960 a such as a ball indicator 960 a-1 and/or agroup RAF win indicator 966 a.

The ball indicator 960 a-1 may, for example, represent a progression ofthe particular bingo game 960 a (e.g., sixty-five (65) balls out of atotal ninety (90) balls have been drawn/played) and/or the group RAF winindicator 966 a may represent and/or convey potential winnings (e.g., apay table) based on how many related players—e.g., “Buddies”—are joinedand/or playing in the particular bingo game 960 a. As depicted, forexample, the group RAF win indicator 966 a may convey that the potentialwin amount is two hundred (200) units (e.g., dollars, pounds, points) inthe case that one (1) “Buddy” is in the particular bingo game 960 a(e.g., the “same” game/game session/room that the user of the firstinterface 920 a is joined and/or playing in), the potential win amountis increased to two hundred and fifty (250) units in the case that two(2) “Buddies” are in the particular bingo game 960 a, and/or thepotential win amount is increased to two hundred and seventy-five (275)units in the case that three (3) or more “Buddies” are in the particularbingo game 960 a.

In some embodiments, the first interface 920 a may provide an indicationof the current player/user 970 a (e.g., a screen name and/or otheridentifier) and/or an indication of a total number of players 972 a. Insome embodiments, the total number of players 972 a may comprise a totalnumber of players that are online and/or otherwise available to play, atotal number of registered players (e.g., players having accounts),and/or a total number of players in a lobby and/or room associated withthe particular bingo game 960 a. In some embodiments, the firstinterface 920 a may provide a chat interface 974 a via which the currentplayer 970 a may initiate and/or conduct communications (e.g., textualand/or otherwise) with any or all of the players from the total numberof players 972 a (e.g., certain groups of players, certain selectedplayers, etc.).

According to some embodiments, the first interface 920 a may provide anindication of a number of related players 976 a associated with theparticular bingo game 960 a. The related players 976 a may, for example,comprise referral and/or friend players that have joined a particulargame room in and/or via which the particular bingo game 960 a isconducted and/or that have joined in and/or are playing the particularbingo game 960 a. As depicted by the indication of the related players976 a in FIG. 9A, there may be two (2) related players 976 a associatedwith the particular bingo game 960 a, which may, for example, qualifythe current player 970 a for the mid-range group RAF bonus 966 a of twohundred and fifty (250) units. In some embodiments, the first interface920 a may comprise an invite button 978 a. The invite button 978 a maybe utilized by the current player 970 a, for example, to invite one ormore players from the total number of players 972 a to play in theparticular bingo game 960 a. In the case that such an invited playercomprises a related player 976 a, the current player 970 a may thenqualify for the highest group RAF bonus 966 a of two hundred andseventy-five (275) units (i.e., having achieved three (3) or more“Buddies”/related players in the same particular bingo game 960a—presuming the invite is accepted by the “Buddy”).

In some embodiments, the first interface 920 a may comprise a portionindicating information descriptive of a subsequent and/or next gamesession 980 a. The first interface 920 a may display, for example, atimer 980 a-1 displaying the amount of time until the next game session980 a starts may be provided, for example, a total number of tickets 982a (e.g., entries, credits, health, buy-in, etc.) currently purchased forthe next game session 980 a, and/or a total number of “Sugar Buddies”984 a currently registered for the next game session 980 a. In someembodiments, the first interface 920 a may comprise a purchase button986 a that allows the current player 970 a (and/or user of the firstinterface 920 a) to manage the amount of tickets (credits, wagers, etc.)that the current player 970 a (and/or user) has dedicated and/orcommitted to the next game session 980 a.

According to some embodiments, the first interface 920 a may comprise amini-game portion 990 a. The mini-game portion 990 a may provide, forexample, a second and/or secondary game via the first interface 920 a(e.g., a second game provided via a single game room). In someembodiments, the mini-game portion 990 a may provide a secondary gamethat is distinct from the particular bingo game 960 a (such that, forexample, results from the mini-game portion 990 a do not affect resultsfrom the particular bingo game 960 a). According to some embodiments,the mini-game portion 990 a may provide a secondary game that is relatedto the particular bingo game 960 a (such that, for example, results fromthe mini-game portion 990 a affect results from the particular bingogame 960 a). According to some embodiments, the mini-game portion 990 amay also or alternatively by affected by the number of related players976 a.

In some embodiments, and referring specifically to FIG. 9B, a seconduser interface 920 b may also or alternatively comprise one or more tabsand/or other segmented and/or logical-presented data forms and/orfields. In some embodiments, the second user interface 920 b maycomprise a game type selection portion 922 b via which one or more tabsand/or other graphical representations that may be interfaced with(e.g., via user input/selections) to select a particular type of gamethat is desired. In some embodiments, the second user interface 920 bmay list a plurality of available game rooms 960 b (e.g., the “TopGames”, as depicted in the example of FIG. 9B, and/or other listcategories such as based on game and/or room characteristics, userpreferences, “favorites”, etc.). In some embodiments, a user may selectone or more of the available game rooms 960 b to enter and/or play invia one or more “Play” buttons 960 b-1.

According to some embodiments, the second user interface 920 b maydisplay (e.g., for each of the available game rooms 960 b) a price 962b-1, a maximum 962 b-2 (e.g., number of players, wager size, number ofwagers, etc.), a progressive amount 964 b, a jackpot or win amount 968b, and/or a total number of players 972 b (e.g., currently joined in,registered for, and/or playing in the particular available game room 960b). In some embodiments, the second user interface 920 b may provide anindication of a number of “Buddies” 976 b-1 in each of the availablegame rooms 960 b.

In some embodiments, the second user interface 920 b may provide anindication of “Friends” 976 b-2, “Sugar Buddies” 976 b-3, and/or“Buddies” 976 b-4. Different categories, tiers, and/or types ofrelationships may exist, for example, between a player and one or moreother players and/or groups of players. “Friends” 976 b-2 may comprise afirst and/or basic tier of related players, for example, while “SugarBuddies” 976 b-3 and/or “Buddies” 976 b-4 may comprise secondary and/ormore specific and/or particular types of sub-relationships amongst the“Friends” 976 b-2. “Sugar Buddies” 976 b-3, for example, may comprise“Friends” 976-2 (and/or others) that have been referred by a firstplayer (e.g., a “Sugar Daddy” and/or a current user of the second userinterface 920 b). In some embodiments, bonuses, win amounts, and/orother game parameters may be based on (or altered based on) whether a“Friend” 976 b-2, “Sugar Buddy” 97 b-3, and/or “Buddy” 976 b-4 (and/orbased on a number of such related players) is playing in the sameavailable game room 960 b as a first player/user. In some embodiments,such as to facilitate play of a game with one or more related players, a“Join Game” button 960 b-2 may be provided that allows quick and easyaccess to the available game room 960 b in which a particular relatedplayer (and/or group thereof) is playing. As depicted in FIG. 9B, groupRAF bonuses (and/or other game parameters) based on referred players maybe limited to a particular time window, such as for a particular periodafter a referral (and/or qualifying event) occurs.

According to some embodiments, and referring specifically to FIG. 9C, athird user interface 920 c may also or alternatively comprise one ormore tabs and/or other segmented and/or logical-presented data formsand/or fields. In some embodiments, the third user interface 920 c maycomprise a listing of games 960 c and/or may provide a menu 922 c viawhich particular game rooms 960 c-1 may be selected. In someembodiments, the menu 922 c may be associated with and/or tied to one ormore related players 976 c-2 (e.g., “Friends”, “Sugar Buddies”, etc.).The menu 922 c may, for example, provide an invite button 978 c thatcauses an invitation to be sent to one or more selected related players976 c-2 (the selection of which is not explicitly shown in FIG. 9C). Insuch a manner, for example, a user may quickly and easily invite arelated player 976 c-2 to a particular game room 960 c-1 (e.g., to gainan opportunity for the user (and/or friend, buddy, etc.) to qualify fora group RAF bonus and/or other special related player parameter and/orbenefit).

In some embodiments, and referring specifically to FIG. 9D, a fourthuser interface 920 d may also or alternatively comprise one or more tabsand/or other segmented and/or logical-presented data forms and/orfields. In some embodiments, the fourth user interface 920 d maycomprise an indication of a particular game room 960 d (e.g., “Game No.1439286572”). Within the particular game room 960 d (e.g., representedby the fourth user interface 920 d) game sessions may be initiated,played, and/or concluded in a serial fashion. In some embodiments, asubsequent or next game session may be indicated by a timer 980 d-1. Thefourth user interface 920 d may, for example, display a ticket counter982 d for the next session and/or provide a ticket purchase button 986 dthat permits a user of the fourth user interface 920 d to purchasetickets for the next session. In some embodiments, the fourth userinterface 920 d may provide an indication that a current player 970 dhas received an invite 976 d from another player (e.g., a friend, buddy,referral, etc.). In some embodiments, the fourth user interface 920 dmay provide a “Play Together” button 960 d-1 that allows the user (e.g.,the current player 970 d) to accept the invite 976 d and join the otherplayer in the indicated game room/session. In the example of FIG. 9D,the invite 976 d to “Bingo Room 4” may have been initiated by aplayer/user via the menu 922 c and/or the invite button 978 c of thethird user interface 920 c of FIG. 9C (e.g., where “Bingo Room 4” isindicted as being selected as a room to which to invite one or moreother players).

According to some embodiments, and referring specifically to FIG. 9E, afifth user interface 920 e may also or alternatively comprise one ormore tabs and/or other segmented and/or logical-presented data formsand/or fields. In some embodiments, the fifth user interface 920 e mayrepresent activity and/or results of a particular bingo game session 960e. The fifth user interface 920 e may display a bingo ball history 960e-1 of the particular bingo game session 960 e, for example, and/or mayindicate other game result and/or characteristic data. The fifth userinterface 920 e may, in some embodiments, indicate to a particularplayer 970 e (i) a total number of players 972 e-1 in the particularbingo game session 960 e, (ii) a winner 972 e-2 of the particular bingogame session 960 e or a previous session, (iii) a bonus prize winner 972e-3 of the particular bingo game session 960 e or a previous session,and/or (iii) details of a wining payout 968 e. The winning payout 968 emay comprise an actual payout or an estimated (e.g., maximum orbest-case scenario) payout for the particular bingo game session 960 e(and/or an upcoming session). In some embodiments, the winning payout968 e may comprise a first win portion 968 e-1 (e.g., a “Full House”payout), a second win portion 968 e-2 (e.g., a “Two Lines” payout), athird win portion 968 e-3 (e.g., a “One Line” payout), a group RAF bonus966 e, and/or may indicate a total win amount 968 e-4 (e.g., all“standard” game payouts plus the group RAF bonus 966 e). As depicted inFIG. 9E, the group RAF bonus 966 e may be based on a number of relatedplayers (e.g., group RAF players; upstream and/or downstream referralplayers).

While the example user interfaces 920 a-e are depicted herein withrespect to a specific example of a bond product portal, other products,portals, searches, and/or other functionalities may be provided inaccordance with some embodiments. While the depicted underwritingproduct comprises a bond product, for example, other underwritingproducts such as insurance and/or surety products may also oralternatively be utilized by and/or incorporated into the userinterfaces 920 a-e.

While various components of the interfaces 920 a-e of FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B,FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and FIG. 9E have been described with respect tocertain labels, layouts, headings, titles, and/or configurations, thesefeatures have been presented for reference and example only. Otherlabels, layouts, headings, titles, and/or configurations may beimplemented without deviating from the scope of embodiments herein.Similarly, while a certain number of tabs, information screens, formfields, and/or data entry options have been presented, variationsthereof may be practiced in accordance with some embodiments.

Turning to FIG. 10, a block diagram of an apparatus 1000 according tosome embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the apparatus 1000 maybe similar in configuration and/or functionality to any of the playerand/or user devices 102 a-n, 202 a-n, 302 a-b, 402, 502 and/or theservers and/or controller devices 110, 210 a-n, 310 a-g, 410 e-f, 510a-j of FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and/or FIG. 5 herein, and/or mayotherwise comprise a portion of the systems 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 ofFIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and/or FIG. 5 herein. The apparatus 1000may, for example, execute, process, facilitate, and/or otherwise beassociated with the method 800 described in conjunction with FIG. 8herein. In some embodiments, the apparatus 1000 may comprise aprocessing device 1012, an input device 1014, an output device 1016, acommunication device 1018, a memory device 1040, and/or a cooling device1050. According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 1012,1014, 1016, 1018, 1040, 1050 of the apparatus 1000 may be similar inconfiguration and/or functionality to any similarly named and/ornumbered components described herein. Fewer or more components 1012,1014, 1016, 1018, 1040, 1050 and/or various configurations of thecomponents 1012, 1014, 1016, 1018, 1040, 1050 be included in theapparatus 1000 without deviating from the scope of embodiments describedherein.

According to some embodiments, the processing device 1012 may be orinclude any type, quantity, and/or configuration of electronic and/orcomputerized processor that is or becomes known. The processing device1012 may comprise, for example, an Intel® IXP 2800 network processor oran Intel® XEON™ Processor coupled with an Intel® E7501 chipset. In someembodiments, the processing device 1012 may comprise multipleinter-connected processors, microprocessors, and/or micro-engines.According to some embodiments, the processing device 1012 (and/or theapparatus 1000 and/or portions thereof) may be supplied power via apower supply (not shown) such as a battery, an Alternating Current (AC)source, a Direct Current (DC) source, an AC/DC adapter, solar cells,and/or an inertial generator. In the case that the apparatus 1000comprises a server such as a blade server, necessary power may besupplied via a standard AC outlet, power strip, surge protector, a PDU,and/or Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) device.

In some embodiments, the input device 1014 and/or the output device 1016are communicatively coupled to the processing device 1012 (e.g., viawired and/or wireless connections and/or pathways) and they maygenerally comprise any types or configurations of input and outputcomponents and/or devices that are or become known, respectively. Theinput device 1014 may comprise, for example, a keyboard that allows anoperator of the apparatus 1000 to interface with the apparatus 1000(e.g., by a player, such as to participate in an online game session asdescribed herein). In some embodiments, the input device 1014 maycomprise a sensor configured to provide information such as playerrelationships to the apparatus 1000 and/or the processing device 1012.The output device 1016 may, according to some embodiments, comprise adisplay screen and/or other practicable output component and/or device.The output device 1016 may, for example, provide a game interface (notexplicitly shown in FIG. 10; e.g., the interfaces 920 a-e of FIG. 9A,FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and FIG. 9E) to a player (e.g., via awebsite). According to some embodiments, the input device 1014 and/orthe output device 1016 may comprise and/or be embodied in a singledevice such as a touch-screen monitor.

In some embodiments, the communication device 1018 may comprise any typeor configuration of communication device that is or becomes known orpracticable. The communication device 1018 may, for example, comprise anetwork interface card (NIC), a telephonic device, a cellular networkdevice, a router, a hub, a modem, and/or a communications port or cable.In some embodiments, the communication device 1018 may be coupled toprovide data to a player device (not shown in FIG. 10), such as in thecase that the apparatus 1000 is utilized to provide a game interface toa player as described herein. The communication device 1018 may, forexample, comprise a cellular telephone network transmission device thatsends signals indicative of game interface components to customer and/orsubscriber handheld, mobile, and/or telephone device. According to someembodiments, the communication device 1018 may also or alternatively becoupled to the processing device 1012. In some embodiments, thecommunication device 1018 may comprise an IR, RF, Bluetooth™, and/orWi-Fi® network device coupled to facilitate communications between theprocessing device 1012 and another device (such as a player deviceand/or a third-party device).

The memory device 1040 may comprise any appropriate information storagedevice that is or becomes known or available, including, but not limitedto, units and/or combinations of magnetic storage devices (e.g., a harddisk drive), optical storage devices, and/or semiconductor memorydevices such as RAM devices, Read Only Memory (ROM) devices, Single DataRate Random Access Memory (SDR-RAM), Double Data Rate Random AccessMemory (DDR-RAM), and/or Programmable Read Only Memory (PROM). Thememory device 1040 may, according to some embodiments, store one or moreof game instructions 1042-1 and/or interface instructions 1042-2. Insome embodiments, the game instructions 1042-1 and/or the interfaceinstructions 1042-2 may be utilized by the processing device 1012 toprovide output information via the output device 1016 and/or thecommunication device 1018.

According to some embodiments, the game instructions 1042-1 may beoperable to cause the processing device 1012 to process player data1044-1, game data 1044-2, tournament data 1044-3, and/or prize data1044-4. Player data 1044-1, game data 1044-2, tournament data 1044-3,and/or prize data 1044-4 received via the input device 1014 and/or thecommunication device 1018 may, for example, be analyzed, sorted,filtered, decoded, decompressed, ranked, scored, plotted, and/orotherwise processed by the processing device 1012 in accordance with thegame instructions 1042-1. In some embodiments, player data 1044-1, gamedata 1044-2, tournament data 1044-3, and/or prize data 1044-4 may be fedby the processing device 1012 through one or more mathematical and/orstatistical formulas and/or models in accordance with the gameinstructions 1042-1 to provide online game session, identify and/ormanage player relationships, and/or provide “play-together” incentivessuch as group RAF rewards, in accordance with embodiments describedherein.

In some embodiments, the interface instructions 1042-2 may be operableto cause the processing device 1012 to process player data 1044-1, gamedata 1044-2, tournament data 1044-3, and/or prize data 1044-4. Playerdata 1044-1, game data 1044-2, tournament data 1044-3, and/or prize data1044-4 received via the input device 1014 and/or the communicationdevice 1018 may, for example, be analyzed, sorted, filtered, decoded,decompressed, ranked, scored, plotted, and/or otherwise processed by theprocessing device 1012 in accordance with the interface instructions1042-2. In some embodiments, player data 1044-1, game data 1044-2,tournament data 1044-3, and/or prize data 1044-4 may be fed by theprocessing device 1012 through one or more mathematical and/orstatistical formulas and/or models in accordance with the interfaceinstructions 1042-2 to provide one or more game interfaces (e.g., theinterfaces 920 a-e of FIG. 9A, FIG. 9B, FIG. 9C, FIG. 9D, and FIG. 9E)such as to provide group RAF rewards, in accordance with embodimentsdescribed herein.

Any or all of the exemplary instructions and data types described hereinand other practicable types of data may be stored in any number, type,and/or configuration of memory devices that is or becomes known. Thememory device 1040 may, for example, comprise one or more data tables orfiles, databases, table spaces, registers, and/or other storagestructures. In some embodiments, multiple databases and/or storagestructures (and/or multiple memory devices 1040) may be utilized tostore information associated with the apparatus 1000. According to someembodiments, the memory device 1040 may be incorporated into and/orotherwise coupled to the apparatus 1000 (e.g., as shown) or may simplybe accessible to the apparatus 1000 (e.g., externally located and/orsituated).

In some embodiments, the apparatus 1000 may comprise a cooling device1050. According to some embodiments, the cooling device 1050 may becoupled (physically, thermally, and/or electrically) to the processingdevice 1012 and/or to the memory device 1040. The cooling device 1050may, for example, comprise a fan, heat sink, heat pipe, radiator, coldplate, and/or other cooling component or device or combinations thereof,configured to remove heat from portions or components of the apparatus1000.

Referring now to FIG. 11A, FIG. 11B, FIG. 11C, and FIG. 11D, perspectivediagrams of exemplary data storage devices 1140 a-d according to someembodiments are shown. The data storage devices 1140 a-d may, forexample, be utilized to store instructions and/or data such as the gameinstructions 1042-1 and/or interface instructions 1042-2, each of whichis described in reference to FIG. 10 herein. In some embodiments,instructions stored on the data storage devices 1140 a-d may, whenexecuted by a processor (such as the processor device 1012 of FIG. 11),cause the implementation of and/or facilitate the method 800 describedin conjunction with FIG. 8, and/or portions thereof, as describedherein.

According to some embodiments, the first data storage device 1140 a maycomprise a CD, CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-Ray™ Disc, and/or other type ofoptically-encoded disk and/or other computer-readable storage mediumthat is or becomes know or practicable. In some embodiments, the seconddata storage device 1140 b may comprise a USB keyfob, dongle, and/orother type of flash memory data storage device that is or becomes knowor practicable. According to some embodiments, the third data storagedevice 1140 c may comprise RAM of any type, quantity, and/orconfiguration that is or becomes practicable and/or desirable. In someembodiments, the third data storage device 1140 c may comprise anoff-chip cache such as a Level 2 (L2) or Level 3 (L3) cache memorydevice. According to some embodiments, the fourth data storage device740 d may comprise an on-chip memory device such as a Level 1 (L1) cachememory device.

The data storage devices 1140 a-d may generally store programinstructions, code, and/or modules that, when executed by an electronicand/or computerized processing device cause a particular machine tofunction in accordance with embodiments described herein. In someembodiments, the data storage devices 1140 a-d depicted in FIG. 11A,FIG. 11B, FIG. 117C, and FIG. 11D are representative of a class and/orsubset of computer-readable media that are defined herein as“computer-readable memory” (e.g., memory devices as opposed totransmission devices). While computer-readable media may includetransitory media types, as utilized herein, the term computer-readablememory is limited to non-transitory computer-readable media.

In some embodiments, additional functionality related to group referralsmay be provided. Various reports detailing referral relationshipsbetween players, expiration dates associated therewith, total increasedbonus and/or win amounts attributable to such relationships, etc. may beprovided to players and/or system operators. In some embodiments, gameplays with related players and/or game plays without related players maybe tracked, monitored, and/or reported on. A player may be notified, forexample, of how much in group RAF bonuses has been forfeited due to notplaying games and/or not playing games with related players. In someembodiments, games in which related players do play together may beanalyzed to predict and/or determine appropriate and/or desired times(e.g., future games, game types, rooms, etc.) in and/or via which toprovide targeted promotions to such players (e.g., to a group of RAFplayers and/or friends).

The terms “computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable memory”refer to any medium that participates in providing data (e.g.,instructions) that may be read by a computer and/or a processor. Such amedium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatilemedia, volatile media, and other specific types of transmission media.Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks andother persistent memory. Volatile media include DRAM, which typicallyconstitutes the main memory. Other types of transmission media includecoaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise a system bus coupled to the processor.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, Digital Video Disc (DVD), any other optical medium,punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns ofholes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, a USB memory stick, adongle, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave, or any othermedium from which a computer can read. The terms “computer-readablemedium” and/or “tangible media” specifically exclude signals, waves, andwave forms or other intangible or transitory media that may neverthelessbe readable by a computer.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carryingsequences of instructions to a processor. For example, sequences ofinstruction (i) may be delivered from RAM to a processor, (ii) may becarried over a wireless transmission medium, and/or (iii) may beformatted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols. For amore exhaustive list of protocols, the term “network” is defined aboveand includes many exemplary protocols that are also applicable here.

In some embodiments, one or more specialized machines such as acomputerized processing device, a server, a remote terminal, and/or acustomer device may implement the various practices described herein. Acomputer system of an gaming entity may, for example, comprise variousspecialized computers that interact to provide for online games asdescribed herein

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, anenabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some ofthese embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the presentapplication, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuingapplications that claim the benefit of priority of the presentapplication. Applicants intend to file additional applications to pursuepatents for subject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but notclaimed in the present application.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of conducting an online multiplayergame, comprising: determining, by a processing device, a first player ofthe online multiplayer game, the first player having a first playeraccount; determining, by the processing device, a second player of theonline multiplayer game, the second player having a second playeraccount; determining, by the processing device, that the first playeraccount and the second player account are related; determining, by theprocessing device, that the first and second players are at least oneof: (i) joined in the same particular session of the online multiplayergame; and (ii) actively playing in the particular session of the onlinemultiplayer game; and awarding, by the processing device and based on(a) the determining that the first player account and the second playeraccount are related, and (b) the determining that the first and secondplayers are at least one of: (i) joined in the same particular sessionof the online multiplayer game; and (ii) actively playing in theparticular session of the online multiplayer game, and to at least oneof the first and second players, at least one of a bonus and an award.2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first player account and thesecond player account are related as result of the second player havingcreated the second player account in response to a referral by the firstplayer.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first player account andthe second player account are related as result of an establishing of a“friend” relationship between the two accounts.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein the at least one of the bonus and the award comprises atleast one of: (i) a feature; (ii) a characteristic; (iii) a power; (iv)an advantage, and (v) a capability, for the particular session of theonline multiplayer game.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:determining, by the processing device, that at least one of the firstand second players is a winner of the particular session of the onlinemultiplayer game.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the awarding isfurther based at least in part on the determining that at least one ofthe first and second players is the winner of the particular session ofthe online multiplayer game.
 7. A method of conducting an onlinemultiplayer game, comprising: determining, by a processing device, afirst player of the online multiplayer game, the first player having afirst player account; determining, by the processing device, a pluralityof other players of the online multiplayer game, the plurality ofplayers having a plurality of other player accounts; determining, by theprocessing device, that the plurality of other player accounts isrelated to the first player account; determining, by the processingdevice, that each player of the plurality of players are at least oneof: (i) joined in the same particular session of the online multiplayergame; and (ii) actively playing in the particular session of the onlinemultiplayer game; and awarding, by the processing device and based on(a) the determining that that the plurality of other player accounts isrelated to the first player account, and (b) the determining that theeach player of the plurality of players are at least one of: (i) joinedin the same particular session of the online multiplayer game; and (ii)actively playing in the particular session of the online multiplayergame, and to at least one of (a) the first player and (b) each player ofthe plurality of players, at least one of a bonus and an award.
 8. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the first player account and the plurality ofother player accounts are related as result of each other player accountof the plurality of other player accounts having been created inresponse to at least one referral by the first player.
 9. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the first player account and the plurality of otherplayer accounts are related as result of an establishing of a “friend”relationship between the first player account and each of the otherplayer accounts of the plurality of other player accounts.
 10. Themethod of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the bonus and the awardcomprises at least one of: (i) a feature; (ii) a characteristic; (iii) apower; (iv) an advantage, and (v) a capability, for the particularsession of the online multiplayer game.
 11. The method of claim 7,further comprising: determining, by the processing device, that theplurality of players comprises all players that have registered as aplayer of the online multiplayer game as a result of a referral by thefirst player.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the awarding isfurther based at least in part on the determining that the plurality ofplayers comprises all players that have registered as a player of theonline multiplayer game as a result of a referral by the first player.13. The method of claim 7, further comprising: determining, by theprocessing device, that one of the players of the plurality of playersis a winner of the particular session of the online multiplayer game.14. The method of claim 13, wherein the awarding is further based atleast in part on the determining that one of the players of theplurality of players is a winner of the particular session of the onlinemultiplayer game.
 15. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one ofthe bonus and the award comprises a benefit having (i) a first value inthe case that that the plurality of players does not comprise allplayers that have registered as a player of the online multiplayer gameas a result of a referral by the first player, and (ii) a second value,greater than the first value, in the case that that the plurality ofplayers comprises all players that have registered as a player of theonline multiplayer game as a result of a referral by the first player.16. A method of conducting an online multiplayer game, whereincompletion of a session of the online multiplayer game results in anawarding of a prize to a winner of the online multiplayer game,comprising: determining, by a processing device, a first player of theonline multiplayer game; determining, by the processing device, a secondplayer of the online multiplayer game; determining, by the processingdevice, that the second player has registered as a player of the onlinemultiplayer game as a result of a referral by the first player;determining, by the processing device, that the second playerconsummates a first action with respect to the online multiplayer game;determining, by the processing device and based on the determining thatsecond player consummates a first action with respect to the onlinemultiplayer game, and to the first player, a first award having a firstvalue; determining, by the processing device, that the second playerconsummates a second action with respect to the online multiplayer game;and awarding, by the processing device and based on the determining thatsecond player consummates a second action with respect to the onlinemultiplayer game, and to the first player, a second award having asecond value different than the first value.
 17. The method of claim 16,further comprising: awarding, by the processing device and based on thedetermining that second player consummates a first action with respectto the online multiplayer game, and to the first player, the first awardhaving the first value.
 18. The method of claim 16, wherein the firstaward and the second award are mutually exclusive.
 19. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the first action comprises a visiting of a website andwherein the second action comprises at least one of: (i) a creating of aplayer account; (ii) a logging-in to the player account; (iii) a placingof a wager utilizing the player account; and (iv) a winning of a gameutilizing the player account.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein atleast one of the first and second awards comprises at least one of: (i)a feature; (ii) a characteristic; (iii) a power; (iv) an advantage, and(v) a capability, for the particular session of the online multiplayergame.